How Is Puberty Reached According to the Shafi’i School?

Answered by Shaykh Abdurragmaan Khan

Question: Assalam alaykum,

How is puberty reached according to the shafi’i school?

Answer: Wa alaykum al-Salam

Thank you for your question.

The signs of puberty (bulug) are three. Two apply both to a young male and female and the third to a female only.

ONE: reaching the age of 15 lunar years.

TWO: experiencing a wet dream that results in ejaculation for a male or an orgasm for a female.

THREE: menstruating after having reached the minimum age of approximately 9 lunar years. Approximately means that if she was to menstruate 16 days or less before her 9th lunar birthday, she would still be considered a pubescent (Balig).

And Allah knows best.

Wassalam
[Shaykh] Abdurragmaan Khan

Shaykh Abdurragmaan received ijazah ’ammah from various luminaries, including but not restricted to: Habib Umar ibn Hafiz—a personality who affected him greatly and who has changed his relationship with Allah, Maulana Yusuf Karaan—the former Mufti of Cape Town; Habib ‘Ali al-Mashhur—the current Mufti of Tarim; Habib ‘Umar al-Jaylani—the Shafi‘i Mufti of Makkah; Sayyid Ahmad bin Abi Bakr al-Hibshi; Habib Kadhim as-Saqqaf; Shaykh Mahmud Sa’id Mamduh; Maulana Abdul Hafiz al-Makki; Shaykh Ala ad-Din al-Afghani; Maulana Fazlur Rahman al-Azami and Shaykh Yahya al-Gawthani amongst others.